FMC in the News

According to The Pulse Of Radio, PEARLJAM’s Eddie Vedder, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and many other musicians and creative artists have signed a letter in favor of keeping net neutrality, the policy that makes the Internet a level playing field for all web sites. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering a change in the rules that would allow corporate behemoths like Comcast and Time Warner Cable to demand extra fees from websites for faster download speeds, potentially allowing discrimination against online content that is not able to pay for special treatment. read more

Actor Mark Ruffalo, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and a host of other musicians and artists want the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to back off his plans to allow “fast lanes” on the Internet.

“The open Internet’s impact on the creative community cannot be overstated,” the artists wrote in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, dozens of artists, musicians and other members of the creative community delivered a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urging the agency to abandon its pay-for-prioritization proposal and stand up for real Net Neutrality. Wheeler’s proposal — which will be considered during a May 15FCC meeting — reportedly allows Internet service providers to charge extra fees to content companies for preferential treatment.

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The letter was coordinated by the Future of Music Coalition and Free Press, two nonprofit organizations with a long history of supporting accessible and open platforms for creativity and entrepreneurship. read more

In a letter addressed to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, celebrity performers including Mark Ruffalo and Eddie Vedder called for the commission to issue new rules that protect net neutrality. “As members of this community,” the letter reads, “we urge the Federal Communications Commission to protect the open internet as a vehicle for free expression and collaboration.” read more

One thing the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Tom Wheeler, seems to have overlooked in his widely loathed proposal for a net neutrality overhaul is that if the Internet has a fast lane, it must, necessarily, have a slow lane.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s leadership and negotiation skills are being tested ahead of a Thursday meeting when the agency is scheduled to consider his new net neutrality rules. He’s having trouble rallying fellow Democrats Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel to support a proposal that would limit “commercially unreasonable” practices by Internet providers — but would still enable them to create a so-called fast lane for companies willing to pay for speedy transmissions.

Mark Ruffalo, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and members of OK Go are asking the FCC not to change its net neutrality rules, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

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“The open Internet has powered the creative community’s pursuits and offerings in the 21st century,” reads the letter. “As members of this community, we urge the Federal Communications Commission to protect the open Internet as a vehicle for free expression and collaboration.”

It was all going so, so well for American ISPs. Not only did they have a former cable lobbyist as head of the Federal Communications Commission, but he was even planning to push through a new proposal that would have given them the power to create separate Internet fast lanes where they could charge more to Internet companies to ensure their traffic got delivered faster. And to top it all off, many of them were planning to engage in a huge wave of mergers that would give them even more power over the broadband and/or pay TV markets, from Comcast-Time Warner Cable to Sprint-T-Mobile to AT&T-DirecTV. read more

Add the Future of Music Coalition to the swelling chorus of voices opposing the FCC’s draft of new network neutrality rules.

In a letter to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler coordinated by the coalition, a host of musical artists said the FCC’s proposed new rules would “kill—rather than protect—Net Neutrality and allow rampant discrimination online.”